Spend a Night in These Renovated 1920s Train Carriages to Experience Luxurious Rail Travel

California living’s never looked so good. Take a peek at the homes from the Dwell community that caught our editor’s eye this week.

The design strategy of this house is based on a commitment to artisanal constructive honesty, the respect towards natural context in an urban area, and the constant search for a way of inhabiting where material austerity provides spatial quality. The main body of the house is located in the southern boundary of the land, respecting the 3 preexisting fruit trees on the north side and taking advantage of the best ventilation and natural light possible. The program, which includes 2 bedrooms, social area, a family room and services, is condensed in a monolithic block to reduce its footprint. As a main strategy, the upper roof tilts 21 degrees, prioritizing the northern bedroom spaces and reducing the southern service spaces. The subtraction and rotation of a middle segment generates a shift in between the upper floor bedrooms, allowing cross ventilation, as well as the accommodation of rooftop equipment and the plumbing and electrical ducting. In section, the composition allows the circulation of north-south winds, cooling the kitchen by the hot air escape achieved through height differences. The constructive solution contemplates material honesty in all the elements. The concrete walls on ground floor, pured with recycled formwork, give an imperfect finish consistent with the roof’s austerity, but contrasted with the cleanliness and volumetric continuity of the upper floor finish. To reduce economic impact, ceiling and floor finishings and tilings were completely eliminated using bare concrete floors and, in order to express the constructive and structural performance, the roofs use a system of bare concrete joists in combination with vaulted pieces, designed and manufactured using a mold made with local artisan blacksmithing.

The trapezoidal tracing of the property is what defined the construction of this house into three clearly settled volumes. Vegetation also plays a protagonist role in the design of this house, both outdoors and indoors. The exterior trees enclose the house generating distinct tons of shades and colours during the different seasons of the year. Within the interior, the unruly green vegetation, contrasts with the stone floors and solid walls, reaching a perfect sense of balance. The entrance, a double height lobby that creates contrasting sensations and distinct visual ending points originated by water mirrors, light shafts, a tree and a staircase. The walls that shape this area, divide the spaces into private and public areas. The ground floor, is organized into two blocks each with a different purpose: The left side, is a white solid cube that integrates the study and the master bedroom and is separated from the other block by a water mirror and a yard that generates the desired privacy, peace and tranquility. The right side, the social area, is a rectangle closed to the west by a rigid wall and opened towards the interior of the house through large floor to ceiling glass walls, giving sober transparency to the yard with views to the garden and the central courtyard. The different angles within the construction achieve visual ending points with great character, as well as, enhancing the sensations provoked by the pure whites that evolve into mixed tones as the day and the seasons go by.

Your front door has the power to set the tone for your home’s interior, telling the color story for your space. A case in point: If you have rooms with walls painted shades of green and blue, a deep teal front door could be a wonderful option. Yet there’s more to front doors than color. […]

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